As more emphasis is placed on user experiences and the application of consumer-like processes in business-to-business (B2B) commerce, a softer side of software seems to be emerging. We'll now explore a new approach to design that emphasizes simple and intuitive process flows.

Gardner: There seems to be a hand-off between the skills that are new to apps' user interface design versus older skills that had a harder edge from technology-centric requirements. Are we seeing a shift in the way that software is designed, from a user-experience perspective, and how different is it from the past?

Sarko: It’s more about understanding the end users first. It’s more about empathy and universal design. What used to happen was that technology was so new that we as designers were challenging it do things it didn’t do before. Now, technology is the table stakes from which everything is measured, and designers -- and our users for that matter -- expect it to just work.

The differentiator now is to bring the human element into enterprise products, and that’s why there's a shift happening in software. The softer side of this is happening because we're building these products more for the people who actually use them, and not just for the people who buy them.

Gardner: We've heard from some discussions at the SAP Ariba LIVE Conference recently about the need for greater and more rapid adoption and getting people more deeply into business networks and applications. It seems to me that this user experience and that adoption relationship are quite closely aligned.

Sarko: Yes, they absolutely are, because at the end of the day, it’s about people. When we're selling consumer software or enterprise software or any types of business software, if people don't use it or don’t want to use it, you're not going to have adoption. You don’t want it to become “shelfware,” so to speak. You want to make a good business investment, but you also want your end users to be able to do it effectively. That’s where adoption comes into play and why its key to our customers as well as our own business.

Intuitive approach

Gardner: Another thing we heard was that people don't read the how-to manuals and they don't watch the videos. They simply want to dive in and be able to work and proceed with apps. There needs to be an intuitive approach to it.

I'm old enough to remember that when new software arrived in the office, we would all get a week of training and we'd sit there for hours of training. But no more training these days. So how do people learn to use new software?

Sarko: First and foremost, we need to build it intuitively, so that you naturally apply the patterns that you have to that software, but we should come about it in a different way, where training is in context, in product.

We're doing new things with overlays. and to take users through a tour, or step them through a new feature, to give them just the quick highlights of where things are. You see this sort of thing in mobile apps all the time after you install an update. In addition to that, we build in-context questions or answers right there at the point of need, where the user is likely to encounter something new or initially unknown in the the product.

So it’s just-in-time and in little snippets. But underpinning all of it, the experience has to be very, very simple, so that you don't have to go through this overarching hurdle to understand it.

We can keep those two things separate, making us able to iterate a lot faster. That's enabling us to go quicker and to understand users’ needs.

Gardner: I suppose, too, that there's an enterprise architectural change afoot. Before, when we had packaged software, the cycles for changing that would be sometimes years, if not more. Nowadays, when we go to cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, where there’s multitenancy, and where the developer, the supplier of the software, can change things very rapidly, a whole new opportunity opens up. How does this new cloud architecture model benefit the user experience, as compared to the architecture of packaged software?

Sarko: The software and the capabilities that we're using now are definitely a step forward. With SAP Ariba, we’ve been able to decouple the application in the presentation layer in such a way that we can change the user experience more rapidly, do A/B testing, do a lot of in-product metrics and tracking, and still keep all of the deep underpinnings and the safety and security right there.

So we don't have to spend all of our time building it deep into the underpinnings. We can keep those two things separate, making us able to iterate a lot faster. That's enabling us to go quicker and to understand users’ needs.

Gardner: The drive to include mobile devices with any software and services now plays a larger role. We saw some really interesting demos at the SAP Ariba LIVE conference around the ability to discover and onboard a vendor using a mobile device, in this case a smartphone. How is the drive for mobile-first impacting this?

Sarko: Well, the mobile-first mindset is something that we always employ now. This is the way that we should, and do, design a lot of things, because it puts on a different set of restraints, form factors, and simplicity. On mobile, you only have so much real estate with which to work. Approaching it from that mindset allows us to take the learning that we do on mobile and bring them back to all the other device options that we have.

Design philosophy

Gardner: Tell me a little bit about your philosophy about design. When you look at software that maybe has years of a legacy, the logic has been there for quite some time, but you want to get this early adoption, rapid adoption. You want a mobile-first mentality. How do you approach this from a design philosophy point of view?

Sarko: It has to be somewhat pragmatic, because you can't move the behemoth of the company that you are to something different. The way that I approach it, and that we’re looking at within SAP Ariba, is to consider new ways to improve and new innovations and start there, with the mobile-first mindset, or really by just redesigning aspects of the product.

At the same time, pick the most important aspects or areas of your current product suite and reinvent those. It may take a little more time or it may be on a different technology stack. It may be inconsistent for a while, but the improvements are going to be there and are will outweigh that inconsistency. And then as we go, over time, we'll make that process change overall. But you can’t do it all at once. You have to be very pragmatic and judicious about where you start.

Gardner: Of course, as we mentioned earlier, you can adjust as you go. You have more opportunity to fix things or adjust the apps and design.

As a user, you’re never alone. We see countless other users facing the same challenges as you, with the same needs and expectations.

You also said something interesting at SAP Ariba LIVE, that designers should, “Know your users better than they know themselves.” First, what did you mean by that in more detail; and then secondly, who are the users of SAP Ariba applications and services, and how are they different from users of the past?

Sarko: What I meant by “know the users better than they know themselves” is that we're observing them, we're listening to them, we're drawing patterns across them. The user may know who they are, but they often feel like they may be alone. What we end up seeing is that as a user, you’re never alone. We see countless other users facing the same challenges as you, with the same needs and expectations.

You may just be processing invoices all day, or you may be the IT professional that now has to order all of the equipment for your organization. We start to see you as a person and the issues that you face, but then we start to figure out how we help not only you in your specific need, but we learn from others about new features and requirements that you didn't even think you might need.

So, we're looking in aggregate to find out solutions that would fit many and give it to all rather than just solve it one by one. That's what I mean by, "know your users better than they know themselves."

And then who are the users? There are different personas. Historically, SAP Ariba focused mostly only on the customer, the folks who made the purchasing decisions, who owned the business decisions. I'm trying to help the company understand that there is a shift, that we also have to pay equal attention to the end users, the people who are in the product using it everyday. As a company, SAP Ariba has to focus on the various roles and satisfy both needs in order for it to be successful.

Gardner: It must be difficult to create software for multiple roles. You mentioned the importance of being role-based in this design process. Is it that difficult to create software that has a common underpinning in terms of logic, but then effectively caters to these different roles?

Design patterns

Sarko: The way that we approach it is through building blocks and systems. We have design patterns, which are building blocks, and these little elements then get manifested together to build the experience.

Where the roles come in is what gets shown or not. Different modules may be exposed with those building blocks to one group of people, but not to the other. Based on roles and permissions, we can hide and show what’s needed. That’s how we approach the role-based design and make it right for you.

Gardner: And I suppose too one of the goals for SAP Ariba is to not just have the purchasing people do the purchasing, but have more people, more self-service. Tell me a bit more about self-service and this idea that people are shopping and not necessarily procuring.

Sarko: Yes, because this is really the shift that we're trying to communicate design for. We come to work every day with our biases from our personal lives, and it really shouldn't be all that different when talking about procurement. I mentioned earlier that this is not really about procurement for end users; it’s about shopping, because that's what you're doing when you buy things, whether you’re buying them for work or for your personal life.

The terminology has to be consistent with what we know from our daily lives and not technical jargon. Bringing those things to bear and making that experience much more consumer-like will enable our customers to be more successful.

The terminology has to be consistent with what we know from our daily lives and not technical jargon. Bringing those things to bear and making that experience much more consumer-like will enable our customers to be more successful.

Gardner: We've already seen some fruits of these labors and ideas. We saw an example of Guided Buying, a really fresh, clean interface, very similar to a business-to-consumer (B2C) shopping experience. Tell me a little bit about some of the examples we have seen and how far we are along the spectrum to getting to where you want to go.

Sarko: We're very far down the path of building this out. We've been spending the past six months developing and iterating on ideas, and we'll be able to market the first release relatively soon.

And through the process of exploration and working with customers, there have been all of kinds of nuances about policy compliance and understanding what’s allowed and what’s not allowed. And not just for the end user, but for the procurement professional, for the buyer in their specific areas, in addition to for the procurement folks behind the scenes. All of these roles now are thought of as individual players in an orchestra, because they all have to work together. We're actually quite far along, and I'm really excited to see the product come to market pretty soon.

Gardner: Any other ideas about where we go when we start bringing more reactions to what users are doing in the software? We saw instances where people were procuring things, but then the policy issue would pop-up, the declaration of, "That's not within our rules; you can’t do that."

It seems to me that if we take that a step further, we're going to start bringing in more analysis and say, "Well, you're going down this path, but we have information that could help you analyze and better make a decision." Is that something we should expect soon as well?

Better recommendations

Sarko: Yes, absolutely. We're trying to use the intelligence that we have to make better recommendations for the end users. Then, when the policy compliance comes in, we're not preventing the end user from completing their task. We're just bringing in the policy person at the other end to help alleviate that other approval, so that the users still accomplish what they started to do.

Gardner: We really are on the cusp of an interesting age, where analysis from deep-data access and deep-penetrating business intelligence types of inserts can be made into process. We're at the crossroads of process and intelligence coming together.

Before we sign off, is there anything else we should expect in terms of user experience, enhancements in business applications, particularly in the procure-to-pay process?

Sarko: This is an ongoing evolutionary process. We learn from the users each day with multiple inputs: talking to them, watching analytics, listening to customer support. The product is only going to get better with the feedback that they give us.

We're listening, learning, reacting, much more quickly than we have before. I expect that you'll see many more product changes and from all of the feedback, we’ll make it better for everyone.

Also, our release cycles now have gone from 12 to 18 months down to three months, or even shorter. We're listening, learning, reacting, much more quickly than we have before. I expect that you'll see many more product changes and from all of the feedback, we’ll make it better for everyone.

Gardner: Speaking of feedback, I was very impressed with the Feature Voting that you've instituted, allowing people to look at different requirements for the next iteration of the software and letting them vote for their favorites. Could just add a bit more about how that might impact user experience as well?

Sarko: By looking holistically at all the feedback we get, we start to see trends and patterns of the things we're getting a lot of traction on or a lot of interest in. That helps us prioritize what we call a backlog -- the feature list -- so that based on user input, we attack the areas that are most important to users and work that way.

We listen to the input, every single piece of it. Also, as you heard from last year, we launched Visual Renewal. In the product when you switch versions of the interface, you see a feedback form that you can fill out. We read every piece of that feedback. We're looking for trends about how to fix the product and make enhancements based on users. This is an ongoing process that we'll continue to do: listen, learn, and react.

At Interarbor Solutions, we create the analysis and in-depth podcasts on enterprise software and cloud trends that help fuel the social media revolution. As a veteran IT analyst, Dana Gardner moderates discussions and interviews get to the meat of the hottest technology topics. We define and forecast the business productivity effects of enterprise infrastructure, SOA and cloud advances. Our social media vehicles become conversational platforms, powerfully distributed via the BriefingsDirect Network of online media partners like ZDNet and IT-Director.com.
As founder and principal analyst at Interarbor Solutions, Dana Gardner created BriefingsDirect to give online readers and listeners in-depth and direct access to the brightest thought leaders on IT. Our twice-monthly BriefingsDirect Analyst Insights Edition podcasts examine the latest IT news with a panel of analysts and guests. Our sponsored discussions provide a unique, deep-dive focus on specific industry problems and the latest solutions.
This podcast equivalent of an analyst briefing session -- made available as a podcast/transcript/blog to any interested viewer and search engine seeker -- breaks the mold on closed knowledge. These informational podcasts jump-start conversational evangelism, drive traffic to lead generation campaigns, and produce strong SEO returns. Interarbor Solutions provides fresh and creative thinking on IT, SOA, cloud and social media strategies based on the power of thoughtful content, made freely and easily available to proactive seekers of insights and information.
As a result, marketers and branding professionals can communicate inexpensively with self-qualifiying readers/listeners in discreet market segments. BriefingsDirect podcasts hosted by Dana Gardner: Full turnkey planning, moderatiing, producing, hosting, and distribution via blogs and IT media partners of essential IT knowledge and understanding.

"Cloud Academy is an enterprise training platform for the cloud, specifically public clouds. We offer guided learning experiences on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and all the surrounding methodologies and technologies that you need to know and your teams need to know in order to leverage the full benefits of the cloud," explained Alex Brower, VP of Marketing at Cloud Academy, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 21st Cloud Expo, held Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clar...

In his session at 21st Cloud Expo, Carl J. Levine, Senior Technical Evangelist for NS1, will objectively discuss how DNS is used to solve Digital Transformation challenges in large SaaS applications, CDNs, AdTech platforms, and other demanding use cases. Carl J. Levine is the Senior Technical Evangelist for NS1. A veteran of the Internet Infrastructure space, he has over a decade of experience with startups, networking protocols and Internet infrastructure, combined with the unique ability to it...

"Akvelon is a software development company and we also provide consultancy services to folks who are looking to scale or accelerate their engineering roadmaps," explained Jeremiah Mothersell, Marketing Manager at Akvelon, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 21st Cloud Expo, held Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

"Space Monkey by Vivent Smart Home is a product that is a distributed cloud-based edge storage network. Vivent Smart Home, our parent company, is a smart home provider that places a lot of hard drives across homes in North America," explained JT Olds, Director of Engineering, and Brandon Crowfeather, Product Manager, at Vivint Smart Home, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

It is of utmost importance for the future success of WebRTC to ensure that interoperability is operational between web browsers and any WebRTC-compliant client. To be guaranteed as operational and effective, interoperability must be tested extensively by establishing WebRTC data and media connections between different web browsers running on different devices and operating systems.
In his session at WebRTC Summit at @ThingsExpo, Dr. Alex Gouaillard, CEO and Founder of CoSMo Software, presented ...

"There's plenty of bandwidth out there but it's never in the right place. So what Cedexis does is uses data to work out the best pathways to get data from the origin to the person who wants to get it," explained Simon Jones, Evangelist and Head of Marketing at Cedexis, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 21st Cloud Expo, held Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

WebRTC is great technology to build your own communication tools. It will be even more exciting experience it with advanced devices, such as a 360 Camera, 360 microphone, and a depth sensor camera. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Masashi Ganeko, a manager at INFOCOM Corporation, introduced two experimental projects from his team and what they learned from them. "Shotoku Tamago" uses the robot audition software HARK to track speakers in 360 video of a remote party. "Virtual Teleport" uses a multip...

"IBM is really all in on blockchain. We take a look at sort of the history of blockchain ledger technologies. It started out with bitcoin, Ethereum, and IBM evaluated these particular blockchain technologies and found they were anonymous and permissionless and that many companies were looking for permissioned blockchain," stated René Bostic, Technical VP of the IBM Cloud Unit in North America, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 21st Cloud Expo, held Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Conventi...

Gemini is Yahoo’s native and search advertising platform. To ensure the quality of a complex distributed system that spans multiple products and components and across various desktop websites and mobile app and web experiences – both Yahoo owned and operated and third-party syndication (supply), with complex interaction with more than a billion users and numerous advertisers globally (demand) – it becomes imperative to automate a set of end-to-end tests 24x7 to detect bugs and regression.
In th...

SYS-CON Events announced today that Telecom Reseller has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 22nd International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 5-7, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York, NY.
Telecom Reseller reports on Unified Communications, UCaaS, BPaaS for enterprise and SMBs. They report extensively on both customer premises based solutions such as IP-PBX as well as cloud based and hosted platforms.

SYS-CON Events announced today that CrowdReviews.com has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 22nd International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 5–7, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
CrowdReviews.com is a transparent online platform for determining which products and services are the best based on the opinion of the crowd. The crowd consists of Internet users that have experienced products and services first-hand and have an interest in letting other potential buye...

"MobiDev is a software development company and we do complex, custom software development for everybody from entrepreneurs to large enterprises," explained Alan Winters, U.S. Head of Business Development at MobiDev, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 21st Cloud Expo, held Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

Coca-Cola’s Google powered digital signage system lays the groundwork for a more valuable connection between Coke and its customers. Digital signs pair software with high-resolution displays so that a message can be changed instantly based on what the operator wants to communicate or sell. In their Day 3 Keynote at 21st Cloud Expo, Greg Chambers, Global Group Director, Digital Innovation, Coca-Cola, and Vidya Nagarajan, a Senior Product Manager at Google, discussed how from store operations and ...

A strange thing is happening along the way to the Internet of Things, namely far too many devices to work with and manage. It has become clear that we'll need much higher efficiency user experiences that can allow us to more easily and scalably work with the thousands of devices that will soon be in each of our lives. Enter the conversational interface revolution, combining bots we can literally talk with, gesture to, and even direct with our thoughts, with embedded artificial intelligence, whic...

SYS-CON Events announced today that Evatronix will exhibit at SYS-CON's 21st International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Evatronix SA offers comprehensive solutions in the design and implementation of electronic systems, in CAD / CAM deployment, and also is a designer and manufacturer of advanced 3D scanners for professional applications.

Leading companies, from the Global Fortune 500 to the smallest companies, are adopting hybrid cloud as the path to business advantage. Hybrid cloud depends on cloud services and on-premises infrastructure working in unison. Successful implementations require new levels of data mobility, enabled by an automated and seamless flow across on-premises and cloud resources. In his general session at 21st Cloud Expo, Greg Tevis, an IBM Storage Software Technical Strategist and Customer Solution Architec...

To get the most out of their data, successful companies are not focusing on queries and data lakes, they are actively integrating analytics into their operations with a data-first application development approach. Real-time adjustments to improve revenues, reduce costs, or mitigate risk rely on applications that minimize latency on a variety of data sources. In his session at @BigDataExpo, Jack Norris, Senior Vice President, Data and Applications at MapR Technologies, reviewed best practices to ...

When talking IoT we often focus on the devices, the sensors, the hardware itself. The new smart appliances, the new smart or self-driving cars (which are amalgamations of many ‘things’). When we are looking at the world of IoT, we should take a step back, look at the big picture. What value are these devices providing? IoT is not about the devices, it’s about the data consumed and generated. The devices are tools, mechanisms, conduits.
In his session at Internet of Things at Cloud Expo | DXWor...

Everything run by electricity will eventually be connected to the Internet. Get ahead of the Internet of Things revolution. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Akvelon expert and IoT industry leader Sergey Grebnov provided an educational dive into the world of managing your home, workplace and all the devices they contain with the power of machine-based AI and intelligent Bot services for a completely streamlined experience.

In his session at 21st Cloud Expo, Carl J. Levine, Senior Technical Evangelist for NS1, will objectively discuss how DNS is used to solve Digital Transformation challenges in large SaaS applications, CDNs, AdTech platforms, and other demanding use cases. Carl J. Levine is the Senior Technical Evangelist for NS1. A veteran of the Internet Infrastructure space, he has over a decade of experience with startups, networking protocols and Internet infrastructure, combined with the unique ability to iterate use cases, bring understanding to those seeking to explore complicated technical concepts and ...

Special thanks to Brandon Kaier (@bkaier) for his research and thoughts on the Digital Twins concept.
Unilever, one of the Consumer Package Goods (CPG) industry’s titans with over 400 brands and annual sales greater than $60B, recently bought Dollar Shave Club for $1B. Now normally I would not think twice about such an acquisition, peanuts in the world of mergers and acquisitions.
However, this one feels different.
Two billion people use Unilever products every day according to Unilever’s 2015 annual report. Dollar Shave Club only has around two million members; the vast majority of w...

From government to retail to oil and gas, it seems like everyone is exploring how to use AI in their industry or business. It’s time for you to do the same.
There’s no question that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is on a lot of people’s minds these days, and is beginning to grow rapidly in adoption. Quoting Accenture, Forbes reports AI-driven productivity gains of perhaps 40% by 2035, and publications like the New York Times are noting the buzz, even as they ask, why now? Even if you don’t think you’ll be adopting AI for yourself just yet, you need to at least consider the broader impact the te...

There is a war a-brewin’, but this war will be fought with wits and not brute strength. Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration that “the nation that leads in AI (Artificial Intelligence) will be the ruler of the world,” the press and analysts have created hysteria regarding the ramifications of artificial intelligence on everything from public education to unemployment to healthcare to Skynet.
Note: artificial intelligence (AI) endows applications with the ability to automatically learn and adapt from experience via interacting with the surroundings / environment. See the b...

"IBM is really all in on blockchain. We take a look at sort of the history of blockchain ledger technologies. It started out with bitcoin, Ethereum, and IBM evaluated these particular blockchain technologies and found they were anonymous and permissionless and that many companies were looking for permissioned blockchain," stated René Bostic, Technical VP of the IBM Cloud Unit in North America, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 21st Cloud Expo, held Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

So data warehousing may not be cool anymore, you say? It’s yesterday’s technology (or 1990’s technology if you’re as old as me) that served yesterday’s business needs. And while it’s true that recent big data and data science technologies, architectures and methodologies seems to have rendered data warehousing to the back burner, it is entirely false that there is not a critical role for the data warehouse and Business Intelligence in digitally transformed organizations.

Since releasing the University of San Francisco research paper on “How to Determine the Economic Value of Your Data” (EvD), I have had numerous conversations with senior executives about the business and technology ramifications of EvD. Now with the release of Doug Laney’s “Infonomics” book that builds upon Doug’s EvD work at Gartner, I expect these conversations to intensify. In fact, I just traveled to Switzerland to discuss the potential business and technology ramifications of EvD with the management team of a leading European Telecommunications company.

Coca-Cola’s Google powered digital signage system lays the groundwork for a more valuable connection between Coke and its customers. Digital signs pair software with high-resolution displays so that a message can be changed instantly based on what the operator wants to communicate or sell. In their Day 3 Keynote at 21st Cloud Expo, Greg Chambers, Global Group Director, Digital Innovation, Coca-Cola, and Vidya Nagarajan, a Senior Product Manager at Google, discussed how from store operations and optimization to employee training and insights, all ultimately create the best customer experience b...

A strange thing is happening along the way to the Internet of Things, namely far too many devices to work with and manage. It has become clear that we'll need much higher efficiency user experiences that can allow us to more easily and scalably work with the thousands of devices that will soon be in each of our lives. Enter the conversational interface revolution, combining bots we can literally talk with, gesture to, and even direct with our thoughts, with embedded artificial intelligence, which can process our conversational commands and orchestrate the outcomes we request across our persona...

SYS-CON Events announced today that Evatronix will exhibit at SYS-CON's 21st International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Evatronix SA offers comprehensive solutions in the design and implementation of electronic systems, in CAD / CAM deployment, and also is a designer and manufacturer of advanced 3D scanners for professional applications.

This month, an AI (artificial intelligence) system passed a medical exam in China for the first time. I wonder how its bedside manner will be? In addition, Saudi Arabia granted citizenship to a robot named Sophia. With all these rapid advancements, I think it is time we explore the spiritual life of robots.
Up till recently, programmers coded and configured algorithms, AI, automation and machine learning system and took personal responsibility for all the code. Today, however, AI has escaped the confines of human oversight and has been empowered and employed to self-program, self-optimize, ...

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it will vote on December 14 to enact the exceptionally misleadingly titled “Restoring Internet Freedom” order. If passed, it will do the opposite of restoring anything resembling freedom — it will repeal the current net neutrality rules which were enacted to ensure that Americans would have equal access to the Internet.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already interested in the topic. Still, some quick background:
Renamed “Open Internet” a while back, net neutrality provided a regulatory framework that specifically prohibited:...

Digital technologies have altered how people and businesses interact. The potential for dislocation from ongoing digital transformation has created unprecedented levels of C-suite discussion. The decisive market leaders have heeded the warnings and taken bold actions.
That said, if you’re one of those Chief Technology Officers (CTO) that previously responded to this scenario by making small incremental adjustments to your IT agenda, then you’re potentially at risk. Any relief from those prior tweaks tend to be short lived. The same issues will likely resurface.

Over the last few years, the Internet of things (IoT) has become a trending phrase for consumers and a top priority for businesses embarking on their digital transformation. Even with the growth and interest in IoT however, the meaning can still confuse people.
So, what is IoT? IoT is a network of things connected to the internet and is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system. These “things” may include a variety of devices like home appliances, commercial vending machines, fitness trackers, industrial gateways, connected cars, and smart factories.

I love it when I get feedback from a blog that I’ve written. I appreciate the different perspectives and insights that others bring to a topic of interest. And no blog that I’ve written has drawn more comments than my blog, “Isaac Asimov: The 4th Law of Robotics.”
The section of the blog that fueled the most comments stem from a scene in the movie I, Robot where Detective Spooner (played by Will Smith) is explaining to Doctor Calvin (who is responsible for giving robots human-like behaviors) why he distrusts and hates robots. He is describing an incident where his police car crashed into anot...

The human work of solving problems, facing challenges and overcoming obstacles tends to share a common goal: creating stable, secure and predictable environments. The tendency for most humans is that once we solve a challenge, we want to be done with it. That propensity, however, does not fit with today’s reality of perpetual change.
In the digital business world, organizations have no choice but to operate in an unclear, uncertain and continuously shifting environment that requires a new mindset and approach to formulating business strategies. Digital winners recognize that change is pa...

SYS-CON Events announced today that Google Cloud has been named “Keynote Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 21st International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Companies come to Google Cloud to transform their businesses. Google Cloud’s comprehensive portfolio – from infrastructure to apps to devices – helps enterprises innovate faster, scale smarter, stay secure, and do more with data than ever before.

Cloud Expo | DXWorld Expo have announced the conference tracks for Cloud Expo 2018. Cloud Expo will be held June 5-7, 2018, at the Javits Center in New York City, and November 6-8, 2018, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. Digital Transformation (DX) is a major focus with the introduction of DX Expo within the program. Successful transformation requires a laser focus on being data-driven and on using all the tools available that enable transformation if they plan to survive over the long term. A total of 88% of Fortune 500 companies from a generation ago are now out of busin...

Digital Transformation is amplifying mainframe as mission critical to business growth more than ever before. With 70% of the world's corporate data and over half of the world's enterprise applications running on mainframe computers, they are at the core of just about every transaction. A single transaction can, in fact, drive up to 100 system interactions. The continued increase in mainframe transaction volumes, growing on average 7-8% a year for 78% of customers, has even led to a new buzzword: The Connected Mainframe.

"Evatronix provides design services to companies that need to integrate the IoT technology in their products but they don't necessarily have the expertise, knowledge and design team to do so," explained Adam Morawiec, VP of Business Development at Evatronix, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

Cloud computing budgets worldwide are reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars, and no organization can survive long without some sort of cloud migration strategy. Each month brings new announcements, use cases, and success stories.